Long Island Iced Tea adds blockchain to name, stock soars

Loren Pratt |Friday, December 22, 2017

Long Island Iced Corp. , Source Long Island Iced Corp

Long Island Ice Tea Corporation is now Long Blockchain Corporation, Ars Technica reports. Bitcoin's value skyrocketed well over 1,000 percent ahead of this month's debut of futures trading on a major market. Just change your name to something blockchain. Shares spiked as much as 500 percent in premarket trading, eventually settling at a 275-percent gain, never mind that the company plans to maintain its focus on ready-made, grab-and-go drinks, and thus far has little to show for its supposed aspirations to expand into blockchain technology. That's small by Wall Street standards, but significant considering the only factor seemed to be the name change.

Bitcoin mania has reached a new level of insanity.

Other companies which previously focused on making sofas, sports bras and mining for gold have also changed their names and image to include references to bitcoin.

Though the company says it doesn't have any agreements in place, the company has switched its domain to http://www.longblockchain.com and the new site says Long Blockchain is in the "preliminary stages of evaluating specific opportunities".

A CNBC source mentioned Future Fintech as a possible blockchain play on Tuesday, and the stock has rallied ever since. However, "we view advances in blockchain technology as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and have made the decision to pivot our business strategy in order to pursue opportunities in this evolving industry", the company's CEO, Philip Thomas, says in a release.

There's a new leader in the sweepstakes for the zaniest name change in the crypto craze.

It's unclear what actions, if any, the SEC would take for Long Blockchain, however.

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